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Drama

Fox’s Scream Queens and Minority Report represent two very different approaches to TV drama this season. The former is a shiny, ambitious original series by a talented creative team. The later is a dull, largely superfluous sequel to a mediocre film from more than a decade ago.

While the cast does a decent enough job with their parts, the material just isn’t there. Like The Walking Dead, Fear is either uninterested or unable to build three-dimensional characters, and fails to bring any emotional resonance to its scripts.

The Fantastic Four just can’t seem to pull it off on the big screen. This latest installment, directed by Josh Trank, is the fourth film and third reboot from Fox Studios in its ongoing effort to build a franchise around these characters. Unfortunately, the film falls far short of capturing the thrills, humor, and sense of adventure that has been the hallmark of Marvel’s First Family for more than 50 years.

A couple weeks back, I talked about my quest to find a summer TV fling. As you’ll recall, I was discouraged. The Whispers was too dumb to be enjoyable. Wayward Pines, while sufficiently ridiculous, failed to do anything interesting with all its weirdness. And the less said about this season of True Detective the better. Then I found Mr. Robot, an unexpected delight from the USA network of all places.

After a second season that felt like a bit of a slog, Orange is the New Black has delivered a third that reaffirms everything I love about this series. It was funny, smart, poignant, and, at times, gut wrenching — often all within the same episode.

All I wanted was a summer TV fling. Something fun and a little trashy that wouldn’t require too much thought yet wasn’t so dumb it insulted my intelligence. So imagine my excitement when I saw the previews for The Whispers and Wayward Pines. Creepy kids. Mysterious towns. Spielberg. Shyamalan. Could one of these shows be my summer fling? Maybe both?

Visually, Sense8 is a stunner. Spanning the globe as it follows its scattered cast, it takes the opportunity to present some truly gorgeous backdrops. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot happening beneath the surface.